I Hope You're Ready To Feel Betrayed, Because These 19 "Facts" You Learned As A Kid Are Not Actually True

I was (somehow) today years old when I learned some of these are fake.

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An important existential crisis that comes with growing up is learning that a good chunk of things you 100% believed were true when you were a kid are actually, in fact, total myths.

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Personally, I am relieved that those watermelon seeds I accidentally ate were not slowly growing into a whole watermelon in my stomach.

Well, friends, I think it's time we finally talk about them. Redditor u/j0hnj0hn88 asked, "What did you learn in elementary school that turned out to be false/a lie when you reached adulthood?" Here are 19 of the best answers:

1. "That cracking your fingers gives you arthritis."

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—u/Taylorcurley

2. "That people would be offering me free drugs all the time."

—u/Flossy1989

"D.A.R.E. made it seem like I'd have to be running away from people in vans offering me drugs every time I went on a walk."

—u/Minmach-123

3. "That blood is blue before it touches air."

Wastesoul / Getty Images/iStockphoto

—u/W0rm_G1rl

While your veins may look blue, it's a common myth that the blood in our bodies is blue because it's deoxygenated. The blood in our bodies is actually still red. However blood that is returning to the heart has less oxygen, and is a darker hue of red. Because of the way light travels through the skin, it looks blue.

4. "That you can't use your notes in 'real life.' WTF does that even mean? I’m always looking at my notes when I do my job."

—u/Kanden_27

"My most realistic to actual life tests were open-notes, open-book, open-whatever; but purposely designed so there were more problems than you could finish in the allotted time if you were flipping around searching for a formula that you know exists, but don’t know where it is."

—u/PrestigiousZucchini9

5. "That carrots improve your eyesight at night."

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This myth is a little complicated. Technically carrots can help, because they are a source of vitamin A, and vitamin A is important for healthy eyesight. But unless you have a vitamin A deficiency, eating carrots won't change your vision all that much, and it especially won't give you super vision at night. This myth was actually popularized by the British in World War II as a cover-up for their radar technology. You can read more about it here.

6. "If someone is picking on you, that means they like you."

"No, some people are shitty bullies and are picking on you because you're an easy target."

—u/archibauldis99

7. "That all my high school teachers and my college professors would require me to write in cursive."

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—u/machina99

8. "This will go down on your permanent record."

—u/Marionberry-Superb

9. "If you touch a baby duck, it’s mother will reject it."

Tatyana Tomsickova Photography / Getty Images

—u/murphy_girl

According to wildlife biologist Elizabeth Manning, it's a myth that touching a baby bird will cause a mother to abandon the babies because of human scent. Most birds actually can't smell very well. Disturbing a nest, however, isn't a good idea and does sometimes cause mothers to abandon their eggs.

10. "That when bears hibernate, it's one really, really long nap. Apparently bears just nap a lot in the winter, and it's not a three-month mega-nap."

—u/IMNOTBOBFOSSE

According to research biologist and bear specialist Sean Farley, bears aren't actually sleeping the entire time they're hibernating. They still wake up and move around inside their den, but they don't need to eat or drink.

11. "That I wouldn’t have a calculator in my pocket."

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—u/throawa9393

"Or a dictionary. Or a biology textbook. Or a compendium of all of human history."

—u/maleorderbride

12. "That my middle school grades matter and would follow me through high school."

"I cannot tell you how many times my middle school teachers told me this. The first thing I was told in high school? You get a clean slate; no grades from before matter."

—u/ProficientPotato

13. "That tastebud zones are real."

Peterhermesfurian / Getty Images/iStockphoto

—u/GrilledStuffedDragon

As it turns out, there are receptors all over your tongue to pick up these tastes, not only in these specified sections.

14. "That if I went to college I would get a good job and be able to buy a big house with a pool."

—u/Takingover4da99and00

15. "That my face was gonna get stuck like this 🤪."

Matt Carr / Getty Images

—u/icantsaycaterpillar

"I actually decided to test that one when I was a kid. I proudly made the face and told my parents that I had held it for the last hour, and it was not, in fact, stuck like that."

—u/chemicalgeekery

16. "We had a teacher tell us that we only had so many uses before our vocal cords stopped working, so wasting it small-talking during class would cause us to go mute in our 30s."

—u/H20fearsme

17. "That being an astronaut was a plausible career option. It's way harder than they sell it as a palpable career."

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—u/FreshKittyPowPow

18. "That cheaters never win in the end; only good people succeed."

—u/slicknshine

19. And finally, "Turning on the light in the car is illegal."

Gehringj / Getty Images

—u/mothermilkers69420

Now it's your turn! Are there any "facts" you learned as a kid that you later found out were total lies? Tell us about them in the comments below!